philosophy, and the best ancients, especially their moral writings. Nor was he above amusing himself with history, books of travels, poetry, and other entertaining species of composition. But his general application was to those more serious and important parts of study, that were immediately suited to his profession.

His works consist principally of Sermons preached on various occasions, some of which were after their first publication collected into volumes, and a volume was published after his death. Besides these he published " A Dialogue on Devotion," 1733; "Forms of Devotion for the closet,' 1763, 8vo. He was also the editor of Dr. Grove's posthumous works, and wrote his life, and the Life of Dr. Benson, and of Dr. Samuel Chandler. Some poetical pieces have been attributed to him, particularly a poem on the praises of Taunton, the place of his birth, published in 1724.1

AMORY (THOMAS), esq. the son of counsellor Amory, who attended king William in Ireland, and was appointed secretary for the forfeited estates in that kingdom, where he was possessed of a very extensive property in the county of Clare. Our author was not born in Ireland, as it has been suggested. It has been conjectured that he was bred to some branch of the profession of physic, but it is not. known that he ever followed that or any other profession. About 1757 he lived in a very recluse way on a small fortune, and his residence was in Orchard street, Westminster. At that time also he had a country lodging for occasional retirement in the summer, at Belfont, near Hounslow. He had then a wife, who bore a very respectable character, and by whom he had a son, who practised many years as a physician in the north of England. On the same authority we are told, that he was a man of a very peculiar look and aspect, though at the same time he bore quite the appearance of a gentleman. He read much, and scarce ever stirred abroad; but in the dusk of the evening would take his usual walk, and seemed always to be ruminating on speculative subjects, even when passing along the most crowded streets.

In 1751, on the publication of lord Orrery's remarks on the life and writings of Dr. Swift, the following adver

1 Biog. Brit.

tisement appeared in the Whitehall Evening Post, Dec. 12, 1751; but we have not been able to discover that the pamphlet was ever printed :

"Soon will be published, A Letter to lord Orrery, in answer to what his lordship says in his late remarks in praise of Swift's sermon on the Trinity; being an attempt to vindicate the divinity of God, the Father Almighty; and to convince his lordship, if he has a mind open to conviction, that the tritheistic discourse preached by the dean of St. Patrick's, is so far from being that masterpiece my lord Orrery calls it, that it is in reality the most senseless and despicable performance that ever was produced by orthodoxy to corrupt the divine religion of the blessed Jesus. By Thomas Amory, esq."

In 1755 he published "Memoirs, containing the lives of several ladies of Great Britain." "A history of antiquities, productions of nature, and monuments of art." "Observations on the Christian religion, as professed by the established church and dissenters of every denomination." "Remarks on the writings of the greatest English divines : and a review of the works of the writers called Infidels, from lord Herbert of Cherbury to the late lord viscount Bolingbroke. With a variety of disquisitions and opinions relative to criticism and manners; and many extraordinary actions. In several letters," 8vo.

The characters of the ladies celebrated in this work are truly ridiculous, and probably the offspring of fiction. They are not only beautiful, learned, ingenious, and religious, but they are all zealous Unitarians in a very high degree; as is the author himself. At the end of the history of these memoirs, he promised a continuation of them, which was to contain what the public would then have received with great satisfaction, and certainly would still, should the MSS. luckily remain in being. His words are as follow:

"N. B. In an appendix to the second volume of this work, the reader will find an account of two very extraordinary persons, dean Swift, and Mrs. Constantia Grierson, of Dublin.

"As to the dean, we have four histories of him, lately published to wit, by lord Orrery, the Observer on lord. Orrery, Deane Swift, esq. and Mrs. Pilkington; but after all the man is not described. The ingenious female writer comes nearest to his character, so far as she relates; but ber relation is an imperfect piece. My lord and the re

about the commencement of the eleventh century of the hegira, or the seventeenth of the Christian æra. We have no particulars of his life, but his extensive learning is apparent from a geographical and biographical work, composed by him, under the title " Heft iclym," the "Seven climates," containing a description of the principal countries and cities of the East, with biographical notices of the most eminent persons. The dates, and the lists of the works of each author are said to be very correct. It concludes with the year 1002 of the hegira. There is a very fine copy of it in the imperial library of Paris, a large folio of 582 leaves, copied in the year 1094 of the hegira, or 1683, A. D. M. Langles gave several extracts from it in the notes to his French translation of the Asiatic researches, and some also in the new edition of Chardin's voyages.

1

AMYOT (JAMES), bishop of Auxerre and grand almoner of France, was born Oct. 1514, of an obscure family at Melun. The following particulars of his origin are from various authors. Varillas affirms, That at the age often years, Amyot was found lying sick in a ditch on the road to Paris, by a gentleman, who was so singularly compassionate, as to set him upon his horse, and carry him to a house, where he recovered, and was furnished with sixteen pence to bear his charges home. This goodness met with an ample reward, as Amyot left to the heirs of this early benefactor the sum of 1600 crowns a year. It is also said, that as Henry II. was making a progress through his kingdom, he stopt at a small inn in Berry to sup. After supper a young man sent in to his majesty a copy of Greek verses. king, being no scholar, gave them to his chancellor to read, who was so pleased with them, that he desired him to order the boy who wrote them to come in. On inquiry he found him to be Amyot, the son of a mercer, and tutor to a gentleman's son in that town. The chancellor recommended his majesty to take the lad to Paris, and to make him tutor to his children. This was complied with, and led to his future preferments.

The

By what means he was educated is not certainly known, but he studied philosophy at Paris in the college of the cardinal le Moine, and although naturally of slow capacity, his uncommon diligence enabled him to accumulate a large

1 Biog. Universelle.

stock of classical and general knowledge. Having taken the degree of master of arts at nineteen, he pursued his studies under the royal professors established by Francis I. viz. James Tusen, who explained the Greek poets; Peter Dones, professor of rhetoric; and Oronce Finé, professor of mathematics. He left Paris at the He left Paris at the age of twenty-three, and went to Bourges with the sieur Colin, who had the abbey of St. Ambrose in that city. At the recommendation of this abbot, a secretary of state took Amyot into his house, to be tutor to his children. The great improvements they made under his direction induced the secretary to recommend him to the princess Margaret duchess of Berry, only sister of Francis I.; and by means of this recommendation Amyot was made public professor of Greek and Latin in the university of Bourges: he read two lectures a day for ten years; a Latin lecture in the morning, and a Greek one in the afternoon. It was during this time he translated into French the "Amours of Theagenes and Chariclea," with which Francis I. was so pleased, that he conferred upon him the abbey of Bellosane. The death of this prince happening soon after, Amyot thought it would be better to try his fortune elsewhere, than to expect any preferment at the court of France; he therefore accom→ panied Morvillier to Venice, on his embassy from Henry II. to that republic. When Morvillier was recalled from his embassy, Amyot would not repass the Alps with him; choosing rather to go to Rome, where he was kindly received by the bishop of Mirepoix, at whose house he lived two years. It was here that, looking over the manuscripts of the Vatican, he discovered that Heliodorus, bishop of Tricca, was the author of the Amours of Theagenes; and finding also a manuscript more correct and complete than that which he had translated, he was enabled to give a better edition of this work. His labours, however, in this way, did not engage him so as to divert him from improving his situation, and he insinuated himself so far into the favour of cardinal de Tournon, that his eminence recommended him to the king, to be preceptor to his two younger sons. While he was in this employment he finished his translation of "Plutarch's Lives," which he dedicated to the king; and afterwards undertook that of “Plutarch's Morals," which he finished in the reign of Charles IX. and dedicated to that prince. Charles conferred upon him the abbey of St. Cornelius de Compeigne, although

much against the inclination of the queen, who had another person in her eye; and he also made him grand almoner of France and bishop of Auxerre; and the place of grand almoner and that of curator of the university of Paris happening to be vacant at the same time, he was also invested in both these employments, of which Thuanus complains. Henry III. perhaps would have yielded to the pressing solicitations of the bishop of St. Flour, who had attended him on his journey into Poland, and made great interest for the post of grand almoner; but the duchess of Savoy, the king's aunt, recommended Amyot so earnestly to him, when he passed through Turin, on his return from Poland, that he was not only continued in his employment, but a new honour was added to it for his sake: for when Henry III. named Amyot commander of the order of the Holy Ghost, he decreed at the same time, as a mark of respect to him, that all the grand almoners of France should be of course commanders of that order. Amyot did not neglect his studies in the midst of his honours, but revised all his translations with great care, compared them with the Greek text, and altered many passages: he designed to give a more complete edition of them, with the various readings of divers manuscripts, but died before he had finished that work. He died the 6th of February, 1593, in the 79th year of his age.

His character has been variously represented. He has been accused of ambition, from his many promotions, and of avarice, from the riches he left behind him; but these are equivocal proofs, and we have given one instance of gratitude which marks something more estimable in his character. Another proof may be brought from his will, that his preferments had not elevated him beyond the recollection of his mean origin. In his will is the following clause: "I leave 1200 crowns to the hospital of Orleans, in acknowledgment of the relief I formerly received there."

It is generally allowed that Amyot contributed essentially, in his translation of Plutarch, towards the polish and refinement of the French language. Vaugelas, a very competent judge, gives him this praise; and adds, that no writer uses words and phrases so purely French, without any mixture of provincialisms. It has been said, however, that he was a plagiarist, and there are two opinions on this subject; the one, that he took his Plutarch from an Italian translation; the other, that the work was executed